BIONICLE Video Game Wiki:Policy/Blocking
Blocking is the means by which an administrator prevents a user account or IP address from editing this wiki, used to prevent damage by dealing with vandalism and enforcing policies. Block duration may vary, depending on the severity and longevity of vandalism, but in most instances a block can be lifted if the editor agrees to stop the damaging behavior. Blocked users may not participate in a community discussion or voting until the block is lifted. Because of the dynamic nature of IPs, and the related risk of collateral damage, most blocks should be in the range of 24 hours to 1 month, with exceptions noted below. When considering blocking, it is important to remember the axiom "Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity," as article blanking may be just a well-meant attempt to expand the encyclopedia. Always assume good faith, but remember that the rules apply to everyone equally. Grounds for blocking include: *Vandalism, defined as any bad-faith edit made with the intent to lower the quality of the wiki or disrupt the functioning of the community. In most cases, users should be warned once to twice prior to blocking. The extent of the block should range from a week to a month in low severity cases. *Spam: posting irrelevant spam links in articles, or creating articles which are entirely spam is grounds for a single warning prior to a ban if the violator continues. *Page move vandalism, to change a page's name in bad faith or without the permission of the author, is grounds for a single warning prior to an indefinite ban. *Inappropriate account naming, be it in terms of user impersonation/insult, or general rudeness/obscenity, is grounds for a warning and a no-IP infinite ban for that username, so said user may create a new account under an appropriate username. Further violation will result in an indefinite ban. *Users who disrupt the wiki (be it via changing other people's comments, making misleading edits, or harassing other users) may also be blocked. This may also include starting or participating in a "war", a massive argument on a talk page or blog that involves insults and bad-faith comments. However, if the "war" was started by a comment without bad intentions, for example, to say "I like the Mata better than the Mahri", only the participants will be punished, with a warning. *Copyright violations: Users who continually post copyrighted material despite being warned should be blocked so as to prevent further violations. *Users attacking other editors personally (in regards to anything) should be given one warning prior to a cool-off ban. The length of the ban is dependent on the severity of personal attacks. *The posting of personal information regarding other people is unacceptable, and will be enforced with blocks. Users doing so should be warned, and blocked if they continue. *Abuse of the file/video upload system. Users should be given at least one warning before being blocked. *Sockpuppetry: Use of multiple accounts to have multiple vanity userpages, influence votes, or evade blocks will all result in infinite blocks being handed out to the duplicate account and a 1-week ban along with a warning to be dealt to the offender. However, to, say, use a duplicate account for the purposes of an April Fools Joke is acceptable, so long as that account is not used for bad intentions, such as the aforementioned.